


Beach Walk

by Esperosis



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Good Dad Jack, Gore, Honeymoon, Jack Feels, Jack Needs a Hug, Jack is rather emotional in this one, Loss of loved one, M/M, Neon blood, Pain, Time Loop, Time Travel, repeated deaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-08 16:16:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10390776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esperosis/pseuds/Esperosis
Summary: Jack, however much he wishes he didn't, is having reoccurring dreams of right before Rhys' death on their honeymoon. All Jack can think about after he awakens from these dreams is how much he wishes he could save Rhys.Well, Jack didn't anyone ever tell you to be careful what you wish for.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, This is actually an Au I made myself called the Beach Walk au inspired by the song of the same name, and by (You prob guessed it from the premise) Life is Strange. Hope you all like at and are ready for angst.

The sun had begun to lower over the mountains. The sky painted all matter of reds and oranges, cast fire to the sparkling lake. The hilltops were set ablaze at the edges, the rest cast an inky black, in preparation for the coming night.

Two lovers, just married, lay in each other's embrace on a deck chair. They simply lay together at the end of the pier, which, extended the large estate onto the Eden waters. The smaller of the two, buried his head into the crook of the other’s neck, simply breathing him in.

“This is nice,” the blue and brown eyed man whispered to himself.

_I don't want to leave again, I like it here, with you._

“Yeah, it is,” the other kissed his head.

_I love you so much, and it's nice here, so there’s no reason to leave. Please stay this time._

The young man let out a breathy exhale as his body moved to sit atop the other, the dwindling sunlight made his edges glow beautifully, and cast soft shadows on his face. He smiled easily at his lover, “I’m thirsty, want anything to drink?” leaning down to place a peck on his lips.

_No. Please don’t go. Stay here._

The older man wrapped an arm around the younger’s waist and another at the back of his head, pulling him in and passionately kissing him. “Might as well go for a beer if you’re getting up,” He smirked breaking away from the younger man.

_No! Don't let him go! Do something!_

Bubbling laughter filled the air, and made the sapphire and emerald-eyed man’s heart flutter.  
“Alright then handsome, I guess I can get you a beer,” Rhys winked sliding off him, “But only because I like you so much,” He kissed his forehead.

_Please, please, please Rhys! Don’t go stay, I can’t lose you!_

The masked man relaxed, and laid back down, “better get going then,” he called “Faster you leave, faster you’ll be back.”

_He won’t! STOP HIM, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!_

The long-legged man glided down the plank,

_STOP_

Across the dew filled grass,

_PLEASE NO_

And up the stone path to the back door,

_COME BACK PLEASE NO, DON’T GO IN THERE_

He looked back, taking a glance at his lover, who was watching the lake burn,

_RHYS_

And slipped inside.

_NO!!!_

 


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack wakes up, again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished this, it's been half done on my computer for like a week now

Jack woke up sitting upright in bed, panting as he recovered. Once his breath had returned to him he let himself fall back down into the bed and began staring at the ceiling. He didn’t need to look over to see that nobody else was in the bed with him, nobody else had shared his bed since... He wiped the tears that had formed in his eyes, he was alone. He was alone and it was his fault. Rhys was dead, it was his fault, he should have stopped him from leaving, and he was alone. Jack let out a ragged sigh, he loved and hated those dreams, they let him see his beautiful little Rhyise, happy and healthy and safe. But oh did he hate those dreams as well because they served as a reminder to the promise he broke to Rhys. Jack had promised to always protect Rhys and ‘be his hero’, well he did a real shit job of that, didn’t he?

He slowly turned to look at the clock, 8:36 am, “I need to get up,” Jack thought as he stood up, and lethargically pulled on his old sweater. He found his way down to the kitchen and started to robotically make pancakes,”They were Rhys’ favorite.”

Angel sat on the couch eating some scrambled eggs she must have made herself earlier, she’d been so good during all of this, he should really thank her more often. He was listening, but not really paying any attention, to what Angel was watching on the tv. But after pouring the batter onto the pan and paying more attention to the tv, he realized she was watching a news report.

“Through police investigation here on Eden 5, more information has come to light about the perpetrator of the recent high profile murder of Rhys Lawrence two weeks ago. The Police have learned that the would-be robber’s name was Florence Smith, a man that had just recently gotten out of prison for theft. What the Police think may have happened in the events that lead to Rhys’ death was that Florence had broken into the home to steal valuable objects, when the two newlyweds, Rhys and Handsome Jack, arrived. Florence then panicked and hid inside the house while the two proceed outside to the pier in the backyard. Florence then hid for a time before thinking it safe to try and make an escape, unfortunately, that was when Rhys had entered the house. Police think they both saw each other at the same moment and before Rhys had a chance to call for help he was taken down and stabbed 14 times in the chest with one of the knives in the kitchen. Handsome Jack later found the body and alerted authorities. After a five hour chase through the woods near the house, a joint effort between Handsome Jack’s personal military and Eden 5 police, Florence was arrested and handed over to Hyp-”

“Angel can you please turn that off we both know what happened,” Jack growled gripping the spatula with white knuckles. Angel sighed softly but changed the channel to some late morning cartoons, “Just wanted to hear what everyone was saying, you’d be surprised at some of the conspiracy theories these people are trying to pass off as news.”  
“What do you mean?” Jack asked rather warily, but he, like Angel, felt the need to know what they were saying about Rhys. Angel turned on the couch to look at him with the same wariness Jack was feeling. She looked older than she did before Rhys died, she was always mature for her age but now she looked like a proper adult. After a few seconds of silence, Angel lowered her gaze to the side, before replying.  
“The craziest one I’ve heard, that trust me nobody and I mean nobody actually believes, is that it was all a setup, and the Florence was just some petty thief that got pinned for it, but…” Angel trailed off, obviously not wanting to say the next part. Jack had an idea what she was going to say next, and he could already feel himself getting angry that anyone would even think that piece of subhuman filth was innocent.

“What's the next part, honey? Who did they think actually did it then?” Jack said trying to keep his voice calm and level. When Angel glanced at him and then back at the floor, her frown deepening but no response, he turned around and flipped his pancakes.  
“Just give her some space Jack,” Rhys would always say that if he was trying to get Angel to tell him something important too aggressively. It worked when Rhys did it, and Jack learned to let Rhys handle the hard issues with Angel, he knew he was hot-headed and sometimes Angel just needed someone to talk to calmly, but… He wasn’t here now, so Jack would just have to learn to calm himself down so he can learn to really talk to Angel like Rhys was able to do effortlessly. He heard a sigh from behind him and knew his plan had worked.  
“They think that Florence was innocent and you lost your tem-” Angel started but was interrupted,

 _ **“THEY SAID WHAT???”**_ Jack roared slamming the mixing bowl against the countertop so hard that it shattered into hundreds of tiny fragments. He was shaking, he had to control himself around Angel, but that fact that someone could even think he would lay a finger on Rhys, let alone _**stab him 14 times in the chest…**_ Those fucking bastards, they’d get it, He’d burn their whole fucking ‘news station’ to the ground!

He felt the warmth around his torso before he registered that Angel was holding him, he was trembling and so was Angel,  
“I know dad, I know that saying stuff like that is a disgrace to his memory, to the memory of both of you, I know… I-” Angel was trembling and he could feel warmth spread across on the front of his shirt. He wrapped his arms around Angel pulling her close to him and stroked her hair. Rhys’s death had been as hard for her as it had been for him, they were so close, they loved each other so much, they had been Jack’s little slice of heaven. Had been, keyword had, it was his fault Angel was crying, it was his fault she had lost another parent, it was his fault Rhys had gotten killed, Angel was crying and it was his fault.

Neither heard the flick of the locks as Tim quietly entered the penthouse. He opened his mouth to speak but quickly shut it when he saw the two in the kitchen. He sighed softly and moved to save the pancakes before they burnt. Jack finally noticed him when he started flipping the pancakes onto a spare plate but didn't say anything as he continued to comfort Angel. Angel sniffed and turned to look at the new arrival who just gave her a sheepish smile,  
“Hey ya guys didn't mean to interrupt you guys, looked like you were having a private moment,” Tim smiled gravely, “Just thought you might not want your pancakes to burn,” he gave out a laugh, though it was obvious his heart wasn't in it. Jack just huffed out thanks and filled three glasses with orange juice and set them on the table as Tim put down plates of slightly overdone pancakes.

Tim, Jack, and Angel ate the pancakes in silence, none of them really knowing what to say to lift the mood. When they were nearly done Tim finally spoke up,  
“So, um Jack, Vaughn, and Yvette invited you to uh, lunch today and I was wondering if you wanted to go? Seeing as the three of you haven’t really talked since…” Tim trailed off, shoving a piece of pancake into his mouth as he pointedly stared at his orange juice. Jack didn’t want to go, but he knew he needed too. Tim was right, he hadn’t really talked to them, he only had a fleeting conversation with them during the funeral and they were Rhys’ best friends. Jack sighed, he really didn't want to go, what was he supposed to say to them? He let Rhys die and they knew it, they were best friends…  
“I’ll go,” Jack finally conceded, He kept his eyes down at his food, and pretended not to see the way Tim and Angel light up at the prospect of him finally talking to them again.  
“But I have to get some work done at the office so it’ll have to wait,” Jack said, and Tim sighed and nodded.

The rest of the meal and the clean up was filled with Angel and Tim talking about everything and nothing at all. Jack left the kitchen without a word to them and went into his bedroom to fix himself up, while people had noticed his absence, he couldn’t return from it looking like a mess. He fixed himself up into his usual attire, ignoring the clip on ties, hair gels, and machine care products littering the bathroom and closet.

He walked out of the room, looking good but feeling tired. He said goodbye to Angel and headed out the door and to the elevator that would take him straight to his office, but before he got there he needed to make a call.  
“Hey there, nice to see you all prettied up again, special occasion?” The woman on the other side of the call asked with her signature smirk,  
“Nisha, I need to kill a news station for me, got it?” Jack said, Nisha groaned and rubbed the bridge of her nose as chuckling started in the background, Jack frowned,”Is there a problem?”  
“No, it’s just I made a bet with Wilhelm you wouldn’t ask before noon…” Jack quickly checked his watch as he entered the elevator and hit the button for his pent office, 9:39 am, “Thanks a lot Jack, you just cost me a thousand bucks, but yeah we’re already near the place ‘cos we knew you were gonna tell us to kill them eventually with all the bullshit they’ve been spouting. Is it like these assholes have no sense of self-preservation? Like, you’re Handsome Jack, what the fuck do they think is gonna happen when they start accusing you of ridiculous shit.” Nisha rolled her eyes and leaned back in the chair she was sitting in, kicking her feet up on the table, Wilhelm grunted in agreement somewhere in the background. Jack just crossed his arms,

“Exactly, that's why I want you to kill them, slowly and painfully, got it?” Jack growled, Nisha sighed at his touchiness but didn't say anything, she knew why this was bugging him so much, it was bugging her too. Nisha decided to give Jack a smirk and a promise to make their deaths slow and painful, just as he asked, instead of telling him what she really wanted to say, corny shit like  
_“It wasn’t your fault,”_ and _“We’re here for you,”_   but shit like that wasn't her style so she just told him she’d do as he asked, and hoped the message got across anyway.

Jack ended the call and left the elevator and walked to his office if his secretary was surprised to see him after such a long absence, she didn’t say anything, knew better than to, and just let him walk by without a word. Jack stared at his desk as he walked into his office, ignoring the other desk to side, allowing it to just collect dust. Maybe if he just left it messy for long enough, Rhys would come and clean it up like he always did, he was very picky about everything being clean. Maybe if he kept telling himself that, he’d believe it someday.

Jack sat down and looked at all the reports and meeting requests that had lined up, he was surprised however to find that there weren't as many as he had thought there would be. He was also surprised to find them in a list of importance and which he need to get to right away and which could wait. His head spun reflexively over to the desk in the office about to say something, but when his eyes laid on it, he just found the simple old desk, collecting dust in the corner.

He quickly looked back at his computer not wanting to see the desk in its state, and found that the organization was not from Rhys but his secretary, Jack could feel a little part of him sink to the bottom of his stomach, as if losing a piece of hope he didn't know he still had. He made a note to give her a raise and started looking over some reports, before getting a call from Tim.  
“Hey just wanted to make sure you didn’t forget about your lunch date with Yvette and Vaughn.” Tim said after Jack answered, Jack just grunted looking at his watch, 12:30 pm, “good, because you should start heading down the the cafeteria now if you haven't already,” Tim said, knowing full well he was still in his office and had probably lost track of time without Rhys there to remind him. Jack nodded and ended the call standing up, he paused and let out a long sigh, he really didn't want to go.

Jack met them in the cafeteria just as he said he would, however much he didn't want to face them, seeing them again made him feel a bit better for reasons he couldn’t explain, or just didn't want to. They smiled as best they could at him, and asked where he wanted to eat, he told them he wasn’t eating any of the crap here and they weren't either as he lead them to the elevators. He wanted to take them somewhere nice, it was the least he could do. Yvette made a light hearted joke about Jack paying and Vaughn and Jack did their part and laughed, while the rest of the walk to the restaurant was in near silence. They were seated and Jack told them to get whatever they wanted as he stared at the menu, he had been here thousands of times before, but it was something to look at. He pretended for the second time that day to not see the look exchanged between his tablemates, this one more concerned than the one exchanged by the other two. Vaughn was the first to speak, letting out a long sigh before looking at Jack,  
“Jack, one of the reasons we wanted to talk to you was because of we… look we just don’t want to think we blame you for what happened, and we wanted to make sure you understand it wasn't your fault.” Jack just let out a humorless laugh,  
“Yeah well, he wouldn’t be dead if I was better at protecting him now would he?”  
“Jack you couldn’t have known,” Yvette said pained before she was cut off by Jack,  
“Yeah I could have, I could have checked the house before I let him inside, but I didn’t and my idiot mistake got him killed,”  
“There was nothing you could have done,” Vaughn joined in Yvette’s pleading,  
“Yes, there was! I could have fucking told him to wait and got the stupid god damn drink myself instead of letting him go inside on his own!” Jack raise his voice, Vaughn and Yvette just looked at his sadly and if a tear escaped Jack’s eyes they were nice enough to not mention it. Yvette decided that a change of subject might do them better as the drinks arrive and Vaughn looked like he wanted to protest but a pointed look from Yvette silenced his objections, and they decided to talk about how the latest gossip, everything excluding mentions of Rhys of course, and Vasquez’s latest fuck up, and how he got the interns to fix it then took the credit for it.

At the end of the lunch date, Vaughn and Yvette thanked him for taking them out and talking to them and that they hoped they can do something together again so time soon, Jack nodded and found that the smile he gave them before leaving was somewhat genuine. The rest of the day consisted of piles of reports, his secretary, Meg, hadn’t put him down for any meetings that day, knowing he need to ease back into the swing of things, and if he went to a meeting know all that would end up of it would be a mess for the janitors.

At the end of the day, he walked back to the elevator and took it up to his penthouse, reading a message from Nisha saying the job had been done and that they were waiting on payment. Jack transferred the funds as he walked into his house, finding Angel in relatively the same spot on the couch as when he had left in the morning. He whispered a hello to her, brushing some hair away and kissed her on the forehead, ignoring the news report about the mysterious attack on the PCN News station. He walked back up to his room, the feeling of eyes on him not leaving until he closed the door. He shed off most of his clothes and climbed into his cold bed. He laid on his back staring at the ceiling and sighed, maybe if he just yelled loud enough and struggled hard enough he could save Rhys this time, if only in his dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed this pain maybe let me know on my Tumblr:  
> https://esperosisisaloser.tumblr.com/  
> And if you didn't enjoy this pain maybe yell at me for being a horrible person on this Tumblr:  
> https://esperosisisaloser.tumblr.com/


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack falls asleep and has the same dream differently.

Jack watched the sun lower over the distant hills for what seemed to be the thousandth time and while the sight was gorgeous, he got tired of it. What he never got tired of was the feeling of his lover nuzzling his face into the crook of his neck, his warmth, his smell, the softness of his skin as they laid at the end of the pier, together. Jack just sat there silently stroking his hand through Rhys’ hair, waiting for the moment his mouth would speak without his permission signaling the beginning of the end. He just rested his cheek upon the other man’s head, for now, trying not to let the inevitable sour this fleeting moment, the moment he got to just be with Rhys. He felt his lover move to look up at him,  
“Whatcha thinkin about handsome? Something nice?” Rhys asked him and Jack froze.

_Wait, that isn't what happens next, I say “This is nice,” and then he replies “Yeah, it is,” he isn't supposed to ask me that._

Rhys sat up and frowned, noticing the tension that spread through his body at the question,  
“Are you ok Jack?” Rhys said worriedly now. Jack was acting weird, did something happen? Jack forced himself to relax and pulled Rhys back down to rest his head against his chest.  
“Ah, it’s nothing kiddo, just thinkin about all the work we’ll have when we get back,” Jack gave a forced chuckle and Rhys softly whacked him on the head,  
“No thinking about work while we’re on our honeymoon remember, it can wait until we both get back,” Jack smiled, wide and genuine,  
“Yeah, I remember babe,” beginning to let his hand stroke up and down Rhys’ back as Rhys softly hummed against his chest.

_This is so much different, none of this happened back then... Wait, can I save him?_

Jack tried not to get his hopes up but it was impossible not to if he could save Rhys, even if he only did it in a dream, maybe he could finally sleep at night, maybe he could look Vaughn, Yvette, and Angel in the eyes again, maybe everything would be ok.

Rhys let out a yawn and sat up,  
“I’m thirsty, want anything to drink?” Jack felt himself begin to panic, everything began to slip away from him, he had to do something, he had to hold on. He had to do this carefully or Rhys might get worried again and go inside to get him something to calm down.

Jack just shrugged and stretched both his arms into the air then brought them down and around Rhys firmly holding him to his chest, preventing him from leaving.  
“Well then gosh Jack,” Rhys laughed as he squirmed in Jack’s grip, unable to free himself, “At least let me grab something, don’t want your new husband dying on their honeymoon.” Rhys had meant that as a joke, but it struck a chord deep down within Jack, causing him to flip the two of them over quickly, Rhys’s back on the chair with Jack hovering over him blocking him in.

Jack just hummed again, not trusting his voice as he began peppering Rhys’s face with kisses, Rhys just smiled and laughed at him as he cupped Jack’s face in his hands then directed their lips together and kissed him. Jack kissed him back with everything he had, all of the grief, the loneliness, the tears from the outside world, it all poured itself into this one, desperate, kiss, leaving the both of them breathless when they parted. Rhys looked at him starry-eyed as Jack caught his breath from all the sheer raw emotion he had just felt hit him like a truck. After a short eternity, Rhys’ gaze softened and cupped his jaw with his organic hand and touching their foreheads before whispering into the space between them,

“Alright, if you really don’t want me to leave that badly we can just stay out here for a little while longer. Then we can go eat dinner, I heard of the really nice lakeside, seafood restaurant and I really wanted to try it out what do you think?” Jack was so happy he could cry. A laugh ripped its way through his chest and out of him and he just shook his head and agreed,  
“Whatever you want Rhysie, you can have anything you want.” and pulled Rhys back on top of him, laying back down as the two of them watched the final rays of sunlight vanish behind the mountains.


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack wakes up, but something's different this time

Jack wakes up, again. He sighs, he saved Rhys, maybe not in real life but at least in his dreams, he was able to. He feels marginally better, not as much as he had hoped, but at least maybe those torturous dreams would end. Jack turned over unto his back, the prospect of those dreams ending both exciting and upsetting. He sucked air into his lungs, but whatever his body was planning to do next was halted by the arm that wrapped itself around his chest.

I soft and happy hum was let out by the person now worming their way under his left arm and snuggling into his side. He didn't want to look, but he did so much it hurt, but if he didn't look he could imagine it was Rhys, but if he did and it was Rhys it would be so much better. No, it couldn't be Rhys, the person nuzzling the place in between his shoulder and throat couldn't be him, it couldn’t his Rhys was gone.

He had to look he decided, for better or for worse.

He slowly turned his eyes to his left, trailing them up the man’s body. He had very long legs, just like Rhys, one arm, just like Rhys, and a cybernetic port on his left temple, just like Rhys. There was no doubting it, it was Rhys. Jack couldn't help the small gasp as he realized that it was, in fact, Rhys, back from the dead, snuggling into him in their bed. Rhys must have heard this as his eyelids tightened before slowly opening, his heterochromatic eyes staring into Jack’s.

“Morin’ handsome,” Rhys said as he pulled himself up onto Jack until he was laying on top of him. He then wrapped his arm around the back of Jack’s neck and half pulled, half crawled until they were face to face. Rhys then pressed a soft kiss to Jack's lips before sitting up so that he was straddling Jack. Jack couldn’t believe it, it was him, it was really him, he was here. Something on his face must have construed his astonishment as Rhys laughed and tilted his head to the side, giving him an amused look,  
“Something the matter? Or are you just sad we have to go back to work today?” Rhys asked. Jack swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat,  
“Rhys? Is that really you?” Jack questioned tentatively as if speaking would break the illusion. Instead of disappearing, however, Rhys just began to laugh,  
“Well it sure as hell isn't a skag, that's for sure!” he said giggling, but after he was done he gave Jack as curious expression “Why, did you have a bad dream?” Jack just sat there for a moment before slowly nodding and holding his arms out for Rhys. Rhys leaned back down letting Jack pull him into a tight embrace. Jack just held Rhys for a minute,

“I had a dream, where you died, and you left Angel and me all alone. Everyone was so sad, and I was so lonely without you, I didn't know what to do. We went to your funeral, and everyone was there, they were all distraught. And I-I-” Jack began to trail off as tears found their way into his eyes. Rhys shushed him and carded his hand through his hair as he hummed,  
“You’re right, that does sound like a bad dream, but it's ok because I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.” Rhys held up his hand, his wedding band still on his finger as he added, “You made sure of that. Besides, I have you, and you’ll always protect me.”

They stayed like that for a while as Rhys laid in Jack’s arms as he just felt Rhys’ heart beat against his chest. Eventually, Rhys did begin to move away, causing Jack to tighten his grip.  
“It’s alright, I’m just getting up to get dressed to go downstairs,” Rhys hummed as he rubbed his hand along Jack’s bicep, comforting him. Jack reluctantly let him go and sat up as Rhys crawled off the bed, grabbing as reattaching his cybernetic arm.

“Now, in case you forgot, Tim is joining us for breakfast this morning, then he and Angel and going to hang out, celebrating Tim’s last day before he heads to Elpis on a long trip while we’re at work. Speaking of, we have a number of meetings we have to go today now that we're back. First, we’re off to a meeting with the heads of marketing, then a budget proposal, then the quarterly report, and lastly we’re off to R&D to see a new kind of loader bot that they’re working on.” Rhys reported to Jack as he slipped on some pajama pants and a Hack-a-thon T-shirt. Jack just nodded, watching Rhys walk to the door,  
“I’m going to start on the pancakes, come down when you’re ready,” Rhys said as he shut the door.

Jack sat there numbly for a minute longer as he just stared at the bedroom door, before he started to chuckle. Chuckling quickly turned into a full-blown laughing fit as he hopped off the bed and started to bounce around the room laughing. He did it! He fucking did it! He didn’t know how but it didn't matter! Rhys was here, alive, and happy! His Rhysie, his cute adorable, workaholic, husband was here! Jack, still shaking with laughter as he pulled his Hyperion sweater over his head. His laughter finally died down enough for him to fling the bedroom door open and hop down the staircase to where Angel was sitting at the kitchen table and Tim was helping Rhys make pancakes.

Jack wore the largest grin as he walked straight to Rhys, cutting off his good morning by grabbing both his shoulder and pulling him into a big kiss, making a ‘Mwah’ noise when he finally pulled away, practically glowing. Rhys started laughing as Angel made noises of disgust, Tim gave a laugh as he said,  
“Looks like somebodies in a good moo-” Tim was cut off by Jack grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him to him and giving him a giant hug while kissing him on the forehead. Jack finally pulled away,  
“W-wh-h-a” Tim squawked as he tumbled backward beat red and stuttering, causing Rhys to start laughing hysterically. Jack then turned around to face Angel, holding his arms outstretched with a huge grin plastered on his face. Angel quickly moved out of her chair and stumbled backward, pointing a finger upward at her father,  
“No.”  
“Angel~”  
“No!”  
“Come Here, my darling daughter”  
“No, Dad-” Jack began to quickly move around the table separating them and Angel bolted across the room to the lounge, Jack in close pursuit. After Rhys had stopped laughing he helped Tim up off the floor, still wiping a tear from his eye. Tim just looked at him bewildered,  
“What the heck was with that?” Rhys just shook his head, watching as Angel and Jack darted to the left and right, the couch in between them. Their stalemate was soon ended as Jack vaulted over the couch, Angel made to run but jack quickly swept her up off the ground and started peppering kissing to her cheeks and forehead.  
“Ew, gross!” Angel said, smiling, when Jack finally put her down and let her return the kitchen table, where Rhys and Tim finally started to put down the pancakes. They were perfectly cooked, of course, Rhys was a great cook.

Breakfast was accompanied by happy chatting between the participants and Tim and Angel discussed what they were going to do today, they had a few ideas.  
“Oh! How about you two pick out a movie and bring it back with you, we can all watch it together,”  
Rhys suggested, Angel nodded  
“That sounds fun,” Tim said, and turned to Jack, “What do you think?” Jack nodded as well,  
“Sounds fun pumpkin.” Rhys smiled and checked his watch, immediately standing up,  
“We got to hurry jack or we’ll be late for our first day back!” Rhys said shoveling a few more pieces of pancakes into his mouth and hurrying upstairs. Angel laughed and shook her head,  
“Always thinking about work, good thing too because all you do is goof off!” Angel said poking a finger into Jack’s arm as he gathered Rhys’ plate and cup. Jack just smiled and brought their dishes to the sink, then began to head upstairs after Rhys.

Jack and Rhys got ready for work and said their goodbyes to Angel and Tim, telling them they’d see them later, and headed to Jack’s office. They passed Meg on their way in, who waved happily at them,  
“Welcome Back! How was the honeymoon?” Meg asked as they passed, Rhys smiled as he turned and walked backward to face Meg,  
“It was amazing! And thank you so much for all of your hard work Meg!” Meg just smiled and replied,  
“It’s my pleasure! Now you too don’t stress yourself out too hard Rhys!” Meg called as they walked into Jack’s office,  
“I’ll try!” Rhys called back as the office door swung shut. “We should really give her a raise,” Rhys said to Jack, as Jack pulled him close, pecking at his lips and humming,  
“I’ll get on that, Now what was the first meeting we have to got to first cupcake?” Jack asked heading toward his desk.  
“Well first we need to go to- God there is a lot of dust here! I was only gone a couple weeks, not a few years,” Rhys sighed as he started to clean the dust off his desk. Jack just sat and watched him do it, a stab of pain stuck in his chest and lodged itself in his throat as he remembered what he had thought about last time he was here, without Rhys. Rhys finally let out a huff before turning back to Jack preparing to begin his sentence again, until he frown and gave Jack a weird look,  
“Jack you’re crying,” Jack blinked, wiping a hand across his cheek, seeing it come back wet. He shook his head,  
“It’s nothing kitten, what was the meeting again?” Jack recovered as he recomposed himself. Rhys simply shrugged and began,  
“First is marketing, then budget meeting, then quarterly report, then R&D.” Jack beamed and jumped up from his seat and walked over to Rhys and grabbed his hand and began to drag him out of the door.  
“J-Jack what are you doing!” Rhys squawked, “usually I’m the one having to drag you out of the office to these meetings!”  
“Well, not today! Cause the sooner we get this shit over with, the sooner I get you at home all to myself cupcake! Now message the marketing team they better be ready by the time I get down there. Because anyone late is learning the difference between choking and strangulation, “ Jack said cheerily as he drug Rhys to the elevator. Meg raised and eyebrow as they passed and Rhys just shrugged.

Jack sighed as he and Rhys finally left the quarterly report, he had overestimated his energy, and was now bored out of his mind and extremely tired as Rhys drug him down the hallway.  
“Come on, just one more meeting with R&D and then we can go home promise,” Rhys smiled back at Jack. Either Rhys’ smile or the promise of going home, gave Jack enough energy to make the trip down the R&D.  
“Alright nerds what have you got for us!” Jack announced loudly as he exited the elevator and entered R&D, Rhys following behind him. A scrawny looking intern hurried toward them,  
“I-If you’ll, j-just follow m-me Handsome Jack s-sir!” he stuttered as he began to lead them over to one of the lab areas. Jack just rolled his eyes and slinked an arm around Rhys’ waist. The intern tried to explain what they were going to see, but was stuttering so badly that Jack just told him to shut the fuck up. The intern whimpered, and Rhys began apologizing and elbowed Jack in the side. Jack let out a huff, but they made it to the lab before anything major transpired.

Jack let out a whistle as he looked at the giant green loader suspended about 50 feet above the ground, a smaller version placed bellow it. The intern scampered off as a lead scientist approached them,  
“That is a corrosive loader bot prototype, currently it's passed all of our lab tests but it’s yet to be approved for combat testing.” The lead scientist explained as she brought them over to the smaller version set on the ground, “Currently we’re working on regular sized ones and,” she pointed upward at the large suspended one, “Much larger sized ones. We’re also working on corrosion-resistant plating for the loader bots to make them more effective.”  
“That’s freakin sweet cupcake, so why aren't they being tested in combat test or whatever yet?”  
“They need you to sign off on the Jack,” Rhys cut in before the scientist could reply.  
“Ah, yeah whatever, where do I sign off on the forms or do you just need my say so?” Jack asked The scientist gestured to a table a little ways behind her,  
“The paper is right over here, won’t take a minute.” She replied, realizing that he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, and not really wanting to get him irritated by keeping him longer than strictly necessary. Jack nodded,  
“Right then pumpkin, let’s go.”  
“Oh, you can go sign them by yourself right? I kinda want to look at this for one more minute,” Rhys replied, studying the armor plating, Jack just shrugged,  
“Suit yourself, babe,” and followed the scientist over to the table.

“Right so the document is right, here and we just need you to sign off here,” she said pointing to a document, Jack gave it a once over, sure enough, it was just a permissions form to use the combat training areas, and that he was signing off on future testing for the machines. Jack took the pen the woman offered him and began to write his name.  
**“WATCH OUT!”**  
**“HOLY SHI-”**  
The yells of panic were cut off by a loud groaning sound followed by loud snapping, and the sound of twisting metal, as the large prototype loader bots suspension cables snapped and the loader bot fell 50 feet, crashing into the ground below. Screams of pain and terror filled the air as alarms started going off. Jack dropped the pen and sprinted over to the giant fallen loader bot, searching desperately for Rhys.  
**“RHYS!”** Jack yelled as he tried to lift the giant thing. He then began barking orders at the terrified scientists to call for medics and to ‘HELP ME LIFT THIS FUCKING THING OFF MY HUSBAND!’

After about 30 minutes, an unsuccessful attempt at lifting the loader by Jack and the scientists, and a successful attempt by two dozen loader bots, was Rhys’ body found under the wreckage. He had been hit by the torso of the loader and was killed instantly, or at least that's what the doctor said before Jack strangled him. He spaced all the scientists though that didn’t make him feel any better, so he spaced the loader bots too, still nothing.

He numbly stumbled his way back to his office after he watched the medics scrape Rhys’s corpse off the floor. How could this have happened? He just got him back. HE JUST GOT HIM BACK! FUCK! He exited the elevator and walked past Meg’s empty desk, she went home after she heard what happened from the medics, and into his office. He then proceeded to trash the place, throwing the computer monitor against the glass windows overlooking Elpis, letting his couch on fire by shooting it with elemental bullets, smashing everything he could find, but making sure not to touch anything on Rhys’ desk. He screamed and yelled and cried until he finally sank to the floor sobbing. It wasn’t fair! Rhys didn’t do anything! Why Why Why, why are they doing this to his fucking little Rhysie. He continued to sob until he finally got a hold of himself, standing back up on shaky legs, he took a glance at the smoldering remains of his couch and left the office, heading for his penthouse.

When he finally reached the door and opened it his ears were met with talking and laughter. His blood ran cold, Angel and Tim, they didn't know. FUCK, he didn't want to do this shit again! Wasn't once enough! He slowly opened the door the rest of the way and closed it behind him.  
“Hey, dad! So, when we were looking at movies to pick out we didn't know what you guys would be in the mood for, so we picked out a comedy and an action and a- Hey where’s Rhys?” Angel asked confused, seeing her upset father but no Rhys. Jack looked at the two of them, god they had no idea, they wanted to watch a movie with Rhys but they didn’t know he wasn’t coming.

“A-Angel…” Jack mumbled as his gaze dropped to the ground, he could watch their hearts break, not again. Tim and Angel immediately picked up that something was wrong as the both stood up and rushed over to Jack.  
“What’s wrong? Did Rhys get hurt?” Tim asked in a panic, Jack shook his head, Tim gave a relieved exhale and asked, “Well then where is he?”

Jack started shaking, he could do this, he couldn't do it again. Angel and Tim exchanged worried looks as Jack started to shake, tears threatening to come anew.  
“Dad Whe-”  
**_“HE’S FUCKING DEAD OK?! HE WAS LOOKING AT A NEW LOADER-WHATEVER AND THE WHOLE FUCKING THING FELL ON HIM AND HE DIED!”_** Jack screamed, looked up to stare at their faces.

First, they were shocked by Jack’s outburst, then what he said started to sink in and Tim’s face morphed into horror, while Angel looked absolutely devastated tears welling up in her eyes and streaming down her cheeks.  
“No… no no no no no no, he’s not… you're lying, please no. please, you're lying, please say this is some sort of sick joke dad cause it’s not funny!” Angel babbled, completely hysterical. Jack pulled her into his arms as her whole frame started to shake as she wailed into his chest. Tim, slowly sank down into one of the kitchen chairs,  
“But- we were going to watch a movie…” Tim said as he stared at the floor in total disbelief, his shoulders slowly starting to shake as tears began to well up in his eyes.

Jack sat himself and Angel down on the couch as she keep screaming and begging Jack to tell her it was all a bad joke, and that Rhys was fine and he was going to walk back into the penthouse in a minute with his stupidly long legs and his dopey ass smile and hug them and tell them everything was fine, but all Jack could do was shake his head as he kept thinking back to how Rhys looked, smashed to pieces on the lab floor. Tim at this point was a babbling mess as he sat staring at the floor, tears running down his face as he kept saying that they were going to watch a movie together.

Angel eventually wore herself out an hour or so later, and Jack carried her to her room and tucked her into bed, then returned down to the kitchen, stood Tim up, and lead him to the guest room and laid him down on the bed as well. Jack gave his body double a hug, which was met only with more muttering, before turning the lights off and heading into his own room.

He climbed into bed and stared at the ceiling,  
“Why him?” Jack mumbled to himself, followed by a choked sob, as he rolled over and tried to get some sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yell at me for writing such sad things on my Tumblr: https://esperosisisaloser.tumblr.com/


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Events continue to twist themselves as Jack awakens again.

Jack wakes up staring at the ceiling in his bed, he had lost Rhys again. He let out a long sigh, and not for the first time, froze as an arm wrapped itself around his chest. He’s back. Again. Jack slowly turned to look at the person next to him to make sure it was Rhys. It was. What the fuck is this? Some sort of cruel joke?! Why is Rhys dying only to come back so Jack can save him? Or… Is he doing this? Is Rhys just meant to die and he keeps changing his lover’s fate? It doesn't matter, as long as Jack can save him he would. He promised Rhys to be his hero dammit and he wasn't going back on that promise.

Turned over on his side and wrapped his arm around Rhys cuddling into him. Rhys hummed,  
“Morin’ handsome,” he mumbled contentedly as he pulled himself closer to Jack’s chest. Jack just lightly kissed his forehead, savoring the quiet moment before he’d have to focus on being is kitten’s hero. Rhys smiled as Jack kissed him and tilted his head upward without opening his eyes, so he could catch Jack’s lips, Jack just smiled, leaning forward the rest of the way to Rhys’ mouth and they placed soft kisses on each others lips.

“Get enough sleep?” Rhys questioned Jack as he pulled away from his lips in favor of nuzzling his throat.  
“Yeah, I slept just fine, did you?” Jack responded wrapping his arms around Rhys, slowly stroking a hand through his hair. Rhys just nodded into Jack’s neck, and they laid there for a few minutes longer before Rhys started to get up. Letting out a yawn Rhys crawled out of bed and began attaching his arm.  
“Now, in case you forgot, Tim is joining us for breakfast this morning, then he and Angel and going to hang out, celebrating Tim’s last day before he heads to Elpis on a long trip while we’re at work. Speaking of, we have a number of meetings we have to go today now that we're back. First, we’re off to a meeting with the heads of marketing, then a budget proposal, then the quarterly report, and lastly we’re off to R&D to see a new kind of loader bot that they’re working on.” Rhys reminded Jack while slipping on Jack’s Hyperion sweatshirt.

Jack’s blood ran cold at the mention of the R&D meeting, he had to get them out of it, or Rhys was going to die. Jack swallowed over the lump in his throat, Rhys was walking towards the door he had to do something. Jack scrambled out of bed and grabbed Rhys’s hand as he reached the bedroom door. Rhys turned around and looked at him curiously,  
“Babe, kitten, cupcake, love of my life, do we have to go all those meetings? Wouldn’t it be nicer if we just stayed here and had the day to ourselves?” Jack began to whine, because if he started freaking out Rhys would get suspicious. Rhys just gave him a laugh then an empty glare,  
“No. We’ve been on our honeymoon for long enough, and these meetings are important! But I’ll make sure they go as fast as possible so we can relax at home after,” Rhys pulled Jack’s face to him and kissed him on the forehead, “Now get dressed, I’m going to make pancakes,” Rhys opened the door and left for the kitchen, closing it behind him.

Jack just stared at the door after Rhys had closed it, then ran and hand through his hair and sighed, well that didn’t work, he’d have to figure something else out. Jack threw on a yellow robe as Rhys had taken his sweatshirt, and walked downstairs. He was met by the same sight as yesterday, or previous today? Time travel was weird. Angel sat at the table waiting for pancakes and Tim helped Rhys finish up cooking them. He sat next to Angel and ruffled her hair. She squawked and glared at him as she tried to fix it. Rhys just let out a chuckle as he and Tim set down plates of pancakes in front of everyone. Angel and Jack thanked them as they began to dig in. Tim also thanked Rhys for inviting him over, to which Rhys told him not to bother and that he was welcome any time.

Breakfast was accompanied by happy chatting between the participants and Tim and Angel discussed what they were going to do today, they had a few ideas.  
“Oh! How about you two pick up a movie and we can all watch it together,”  
Rhys suggested, Angel seemed to like the idea as she turned to her dad,  
“Hey what kind of movie do you guys think you’d be in the mood for?” Jack just shrugged,  
“I dunno pumpkin, what are you in the mood for?” Angel hummed,  
“Maybe we can pick up groundhog day?” Jack froze, but Rhys just shook his head,  
“No, I don’t really like that one. It always makes me really sad,” Rhys said, Angel turned her attention to Rhys and asked,  
“Whys that?”  
“I don’t know, I guess just the thought of being stuck in a time loop is kinda… lonely?” Rhys shook his head, “I’m not really sure to be honest.” Angel just nodded,  
“Alright not groundhog day, how about we surprise you?” Tim suggested.  
“That sounds like a great idea,” Rhys agreed while checking his watch, standing up immediately,  
“We got to hurry Jack or we’ll be late for our first day back!” Rhys said shoveling a few more pieces of pancakes into his mouth and hurrying upstairs. Angel laughed and shook her head,  
“Always thinking about work, good thing too because all you do is goof off!” Angel said poking a finger into Jack’s arm, Jack nodded distantly, gathering their dishes and putting them in the sink before walking upstairs.

Rhys and Jack got ready together, Jack thinking about how he was going to get the both of them out of the R&D meeting. When the were eventually ready Rhys and jack walked downstairs and said their goodbyes to each other,  
“See ya later Rhys!” Angel called after Rhys. Yes you will see Rhys later Angel, because daddy is a hero, and he’s going to do what he does best, and that be a hero. They tooked the elevator down to Jack’s office in a comfortable silence, Jack standing tall, Rhys comfortably leaning on the back of the elevator. They finally made it down to Jack’s floor, and Jack grabbed Rhys’ hand pulling him to his office. They passed Meg on their way in, who waved happily at them,  
“Welcome Back! How was the honeymoon?” Meg asked as they passed, Jack didn’t reply as he just swiftly walked by her. Rhys smiled as he called over his shoulder to Meg while Jack was pulling him to their office,  
“It was amazing! And thank you so much for all of your hard work Meg!” Meg just smiled and replied,  
“It’s my pleasure! And Jack are you alright?” Meg called as they walked into Jack’s office,  
“Yes I’m fine Meg, thanks for helping with the work while we were gone” Jack called back as the office door swung shut, realizing he needed to relax a bit or people were going to think that something was off, It would be easier to save Rhys is nobody knew anything was wrong in the first place.  
“We should really give her a raise,” Rhys said to Jack, as he pulled him close, pecking at his lips. Jack just hummed, give Rhys a squeeze and headed over to his office.  
“Well first we need to go to- God there is a lot of dust here! I was only gone a couple weeks, not a few years,” Rhys sighed as he started to clean the dust off his desk, before stopping, “Hey Jack we were only gone a few weeks right?” Jack looked at him, genuinely confused,  
“Yeah cupcake, only a few weeks, two I think.” Rhys gave a thoughtful hum before mumbling to himself as he returned to clearing his desk off,  
“Sorry, just felt like a lot longer for a second there.” Jack watched Rhys closely as he continued cleaning his desk. Was he subconsciously remembering the time looping? Was that even possible? Was any of this even possible? Jack just let out a sigh, deciding to drop that train of thought for the moment, before stating,  
“We have to go to a marketing, then budget, then quarterly report, then the R&D thingy right? Then we can go home?” Rhys paused from his cleaning, looking at Jack and nodding,  
“Yeah that's right,” Rhys said thoughtfully as he stared at Jack, surprised he remembered anything.  
“Right well let's go after lunch,” Rhys squawked immediately protesting,  
“But if we start after lunch there no way we’ll get to all the meetings today!” Jack simply shrugged kicking his feet up on his desk, sinking down into his chair and closing his eyes, “Oh no mister I know exactly what you're doing and it isn't going to work!” Rhys announced as he marched over to Jack’s desk. Jack cracked and eye open as Rhys arrived next to him, only to yell in protest as his feet were knocked off the table, causing him to lose balance and fall to the floor. Rhys just laughed dragging him to his feet then beginning to drag him to the door,  
“Rhysie please!” Jack whined as Rhys dragged him to the door and threw it open.  
“Think of it this way Jack,” Rhys said as they walked back past Meg, who cheerily waved them off,  
“Faster this is over, faster we can go home!” Rhys announced as he shoved a scowling Jack into the elevator. So, It seems he wasn't able to prevent them from going to the meetings, he’d just have to figure something else out.

Three dull meetings and an extremely long lunch break, not long enough apparently, later Rhys and Jack were exiting the elevator to the R&D floor, Jack already on alert. He needed to think fast. A scrawny looking intern hurried toward them,  
“I-If you’ll, j-just follow m-me Handsome Jack s-sir!” he stuttered as he began to lead them over to one of the lab areas. The intern tried to explain what they were going to see, but was stuttering so badly that Rhys just told him that it was alright and that they could just ask the head scientist. The intern shot a look of relief at Rhys and stopped talking, focus all of his energy to leading them to Rhys’ demise.

Jack gave a steely-eyed glare at the giant green loader suspended about 50 feet above the ground, a smaller version placed bellow it. The intern scampered off as a lead scientist approached them,  
“That is a corrosive loader bot prototype, currently it's passed all of our lab tests but it’s yet to be approved for combat testing.” The lead scientist explained as she brought them over to the smaller version set on the ground, Rhys approaching carefree while Jack eyed the larger loader bot with thinly veiled hatred “Currently we’re working on regular sized ones and,” she pointed upward at the large suspended one, “Much larger sized ones. We’re also working on corrosion-resistant plating for the loader bots to make them more effective.”  
“That's nice, where can I sign so we can leave?” Jack cut to the chase, wanting to get Rhys out of the shadow of the giant metal fucker. The head scientist seemed a bit surprised, but quickly composed herself,  
“The paper is right over here, won’t take a minute.” She replied, realizing that he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, and not really wanting to get him irritated by keeping him longer than strictly necessary. Jack nodded and grabbed Rhys’ hand beginning to drag him away,  
“Come on let's get this over with and go home,” Jack said, Rhys just frowned,  
“Can’t you sign that by yourself? I kinda want to look at this for a minute longer.” Jack’s heart started to pound as he heard the sound of metal cables groaning, imagined or not it made Jack begin to panic.  
“Come on, you can look at them later! Besides the giant metal thing suspended precariously above our heads, not helping my paranoia,” Jack begged Rhys as he continued to pull him away from the loader bot. Rhys gave him a surprised look before looking directly up above them at the giant, green, husband murdering, shit.  
“I suppose you have a point,” Rhys acknowledge as he allowed Jack to pull him out from under the death-trap. The head scientist brought them over to the paper Jack needed to sign, while assuring them that the support cables were more than capable of holding the mac-  
**_“WATCH OUT!”_**  
**_“HOLY SHI-”_**  
The yells of panic were cut off by a loud groaning sound followed by loud snapping, and the sound of twisting metal, as the large prototype loader bots suspension cables snapped and the loader bot fell 50 feet, crashing into the ground below. Screams of pain and terror filled the air as alarms started going off. Jack finished signing the paper before straightening up looking at the horrified scientist,  
“You were saying?” Jack asked, his gaze as hard as steel. The scientists mouth just started moving open and closed, before Jack sighed, “Don't just stand there princess! Call a medic team or something!” Jack ordered the scientist, causing her to spring into action, as she began yelling orders and trying to calm everyone down. Jack sighed turning to Rhys who was frozen staring at the wreckage, “Hey beautiful, It’s ok, you're ok, alright?” Jack whispered to Rhys as he cupped his face in his hands, Rhys just stared at him before mumbling,  
“That could have been me… I could have been under there… I-If I hadn't listened…” Jack hushed him kissing him on the forehead, Moving his arms to encompass Rhys, whispering in his ear,  
“But you did listen and you're safe alright? And that's what matters.” Rhys just nodded into his chest before wrapping his arms around Jack and burying his face into Jack’s chest. They stayed like that until the alarms finally died down Jack pulling back, and holding Rhys firmly by the shoulders starting into Rhys’ eyes.  
“Let's go home Rhys.” Jack said to him, and Rhys smiled at him nodding vigorously, before staring into his eyes and stopping. Rhys just sat there happily staring into his eyes, Jack didn’t want to break eye contact him but after a minute of no movement he began to frown. That's when he realized that Rhys wasn’t the only one who had just stopped moving, but everyone had. Come medics were frozen while running out the lab doors, a scientist was frozen while searching for something in a desk, loader bots frozen while lifting the giant green loader bot. It seemed as if time had just stopped for everyone but Jack, Jack looked around wildly trying to find the source as he walked as close as he could to his frozen husband holding his head to his chest.

“So, you're the little shit fucking around with time.” A raspy voice stated from behind Jack. Jack wiped his head around to try and get a look at who was speaking. The person in question was a large woman with white hair and and three claw marks over her left eye, she was big, but not enough for Jack to be intimidated by her. Jack let go of Rhys and turned to face the woman, placing himself in between her and Rhys.  
“Who the fuck are you?” Jack demanded, crossing his arms at the old bat. The bitch had the nerve to laugh at him and just snarled at him,  
“I’m Death, but you can just call me Vallory. Now that little pipsqueak there, he’s due to die, but someone turned a routine death it a fucking shit show. That's you by the way. So, I’m going to give you an opportunity to fix this yourself before I do it for you. When you go to sleep, think back to the moment Rhys died originally, and let him die.” Vallory warned Jack, but Jack wasn’t having any of it.  
“Look you dust old cunt, I’m not letting my fucking husband die just cause you fucking said so got it! So you better get the fuck out of here before I fucking I throw you out an airlock!” Jack snarled back with equal malice. Vallory just glared at him,  
“Do it.” was all she said before turning around and disappearing into the shadows, causing everything to fade to black.


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One step forward. One step back.

When the darkness finally faded he was curled around Rhys in bed, he was fast asleep. Jack checked the time, 7:03 am, two minutes before their alarm went off. Jack sighed and shuffled over, switched the alarm off before softly shaking Rhys.  
“Rhysie babe it's time to wake up,” Rhys just groaned and turned over. Jack just shook his head kissing Rhys on the cheek before shuffling out of bed. Rhys tiredly protested, giving slurred protests and trying to lazily swing his arm over Jack to keep him in bed. Jack just walked around the bed leaning over him and whispered in his ear.  
“I’m going to start breakfast ok?” Rhys seemed to accept that answer as she nodded and curled into a ball, hugging his pillow before stilling again. Jack smiled at his dope of a husband and left the room heading downstairs. The second Jack left the room however his warm smile melted into a determined glare at nothing in particular. That Vallory bitch wanted him to let Rhys die, well tough shit lady. He didn’t give a shit if she was death, or god, or just some accountant’s mother, she could take her orders and shove them up her old ass.

Jack began to make eggs and bacon as he mulled over what he was going to do about that woman, not noticing Angel blearily walk into the kitchen.  
“Wow dad, did the bacon kick your puppy or something?” Angel laughed, causing Jack to jump and look at her in surprise before laughing it off,  
“Sorry sweetie, daddy's just thinking about something. You know how it is with these idiots.” Jack turned his attention back to the bacon. Angel either believed him or didn't think the subject was worth pursuing, either way, she dropped the subject,  
“I’m guessing Rhys is still in bed?” Angel inquired as she fished her phone out of her pocket, Jack simply nodded before realizing Angel wasn’t looking at him, and spoke aloud  
“Yeah, he is,” Angel simply nodded as she began looking at something on her phone.

Eventually, the smell of cooked bacon and eggs drew Rhys out of the room, as he sleepily stumbled his way to the table. Jack kissed him on the top of the head as he placed bacon, eggs, and a cup of coffee in front of him. He then put some food and a glass of orange juice in front of Angel and sat down with his food and coffee. The breakfast went by in comfortable silence as everyone quietly ate their food.

Rhys finished first, he brought his plates and mug over to the sink and placed them at the bottom of the empty sink. He then gave Jack a kiss on the lips, and Angel a kiss on the forehead, before heading to their room to take a shower. Jack continued to quietly eat with his daughter until Angel set her knife and fork down and stared at Jack. Jack slowly turned to look at Angel with a mouth full of eggs and raised his eyebrow at her stern expression.

“What did you do?” Angel asked seriously, jack was taken by surprise and swallowed his eggs before answering cautiously,  
“What do you mean princess?”  
“I don’t know, I just feel like you’ve done something, or a are doing something, really stupid,” Angel responded narrowing her eyes at her father. Jack swallowed audibly, but made sure his expression didn’t give away his guilt,  
“Sweetie, I haven't done anything of the sort. I’m not sure what you think I’ve done but I haven't done anything dumb ok? I’m just doing what I've always done, looking after you and Rhys.” Jack tried to gently convince Angel, Angel simply narrowed her eyes more.  
“That's what I'm afraid of, I don’t know why but I feel like you’ve gotten yourself into a huge mess for the sake of protecting us,” Angel let out a sigh, “It’s ok if you don't want to tell me, I understand how you are, but, please, just, be careful ok? I don’t want you to get hurt.” Angel looked at him with a mixture of sadness and worry. Jack sighed and he stood up, walking over to Angel and standing her up to her hugged her.  
“It’s going to be ok alright? I’m always careful when it comes to you guys.” Jack admitted, he then kissed the top of her head and took the rest of his food to the sink before walking upstairs. So, it seems that the more time loops that go by, the more other people’s memories are affected by them. That's going to be tricky, especially if this goes on for a long time.

After Rhys had gotten out of the shower and got dressed they both headed down to Jack’s office. Jack kept an eye out for potential dangers, he figured if he was able to keep Rhys alive for a full day that might break this curse on him, and they would be free. In the spirit of that, while he did hate paperwork, it would be safest to keep him in the office all day. So he and Rhys started on the most important and pressing matters that needed to get done.

They stayed like that working on paperwork for a good half of the day, until Rhys finally piped up.  
“Hey, Jack?” Jack hummed in response to Rhys continued, “Can we get something to eat I’m starving?” Jack thought for a minute, he didn't see a reason why they couldn’t but he’d have to be careful, they could get some really bad food as Rhys could get sick, or he could choke. Jack slowly nodded in confirmation, he’d protect Rhys from anything, even if that anything was a grilled cheese sandwich with pickles.

He stood up from his desk and walked over to Rhys’ desk who started gathering his things. He stood next to Rhys offering him his arm when Rhys noticed this he just laughed and took his arm. The two of them walked over to the elevator only stopping to tell Meg she could take her break too if she hadn't already, she thanked them but told them she ate earlier.

Jack and Rhys entered the elevator, hitting the button for the floor the floor with the nice restaurants. As the elevator began its descent it stopped and shook. Rhys looked at Jack and gave a nervous laugh,  
“Maintenance?” Rhys guessed, but Jack knew exactly what was going to happen and grabbed Rhys and held him close to him, as the elevator dropped a few floors before shuddering and free falling. Jack screwed his eyes shut as he wrapped his arms and legs around Rhys he screamed in terror. It felt like they free feel for only moments before they finally crashed.

Numb. He could tell was that he was in pain, but he was just numb. He felt the collision and was surprised he wasn't knocked out or dead at this point, thought he could feel that he was close. Jack looked down his body and even in the almost pitch darkness of the elevator cabin he found he could see Rhys’ lifeless eyes staring at him, as several metal beams impaled the both of them trapping them against each other. Jack tried to move his right arm but found that it was missing below the elbow, he dropped his arm and let his eyes droop shut, letting the darkness overcome him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a bit short


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are starting to deteriorate around Jack,

Jack woke up, as he always did. He looked to the sleeping Rhys at his side and shut off the alarm. He again woke up his sleeping husband, kissing him repeatedly, whispering for him to get ready. Then he got out of bed and walked downstairs.

Jack debated what he was going to do as he made eggs and bacon. He would go back and relive the same day twice for his entire life if he had to if it was for Rhys. But there had to be a better solution, made he could try killing that Vallory chick? Can you kill death? Well, he was practically a god in the flesh anyway so if anyone could do it he could. Hell, he was breaking the fucking space-time continuum as he masterfully flipped his eggs. Jack let out a thoughtful hum as he set the bacon and eggs down on three plates, he’d give shooting Vallory in the face, if it didn't work, he’d just continue doing what he was doing until another option arose.

As he set the breakfast on the table he noticed that neither Angel nor Rhys had come down stairs, so he walked up to their rooms, knocking on Angel’s door first as it was closer.  
“Hey, sweetie are you awake? Breakfast is ready.” Jack called through the door, a muffled reply of  
“Gimme a minute,” was all he got. He nodded heading into his and Rhys’ room gently shaking Rhys to wake him up. Rhys blearily opened his eyes to take a look at Jack before groaning and rolling over,  
“Nooooooooo,” was all Jack received before Rhys smushed his pillow over his head. Jack chuckled pulling the pillow off of Rhys’ head before throwing the covers off. Rhys tucked his legs into his chest and pulled his arm around his legs, hunching into a ball making pained hissing noises. Jack frowned, realizing that Rhys was in pain for some reason and immediately pulled Rhys to his chest.  
“Rhyies? Is something wrong?” Jack began as he started to examine Rhys for any sign of bruising. Rhys just let himself be held as he mumbled into Jack’s chest,  
“I feel like I got hit by a bus,” whining a bit as he mumbled. Jack’s blood ran cold, he couldn't be feeling physical symptoms from...

Change of plans, if Angel was getting half realizations of his meddling and Rhys was starting to get physical symptoms from his deaths… He needed to act quickly, he needed to kill Vallory and then everything would go back to normal, he knew it would. He just nodded humming to comfort Rhys before grabbing and few pillows and propping Rhys up in bed, then grabbing the covers and pulling them over his legs. Rhys looked at Jack with a bone-deep tiredness,  
“Jack it hurts, please, make it stop, ” Rhys whispered making eye contact with Jack, eyes piercing into his soul in a way Jack didn't think possible. Jack looked at him sadly, running his hand through his hair and kissing him on the forehead.  
“I’m trying Rhys, just hang in there for me ok?” Jack whispered into his hair, before standing up “I’m going to bring you up some breakfast ok? And we’re going to take a day off, I’ll tell Meg you aren’t feeling well and I’ll even give her a bonus! How does that sound! Sounds good right?” Jack said to Rhys that could be mistaken as desperation. Rhys simply closed his eyes and nodded, Jack gave Rhys a fake smile that didn't even get near to reaching his eyes, before turning away and leaving the bedroom.

He walked downstairs and grabbed the two remaining plates, the third missing, before walking slowly back upstairs. As he walked upstairs he made sure to grab the gun he left in the kitchen, if he was right and Vallory showed up after the crisis had been averted then she should be showing up soon. Jack slid the gun under his sweater and walked back into the bedroom. Rhys looked pale even for him, and it reminded Jack too much like a corpse for his liking. He slid into bed next to Rhys and placed the dish on his lap, Rhys slowly opened his eyes and looked down at the food, before slowly looking at Jack and whispering,  
“Thank you,” before picking up his fork and freezing. Even when Jack knew it was coming it wasn't any less disorienting to realize that time had just stopped around him, he let out a sigh and placed his food on the bedside table before looking around slowly moving his hand behind his back to grab the gun.

“What are you going to do shoot me?” A rough woman’s voice called from the bathroom doorway. As soon as she spoke Jack grabbed the gun whipped it at her, switched off the safety and fired five shot directly at her chest. The woman just laughed as the bullets flew straight through her as if she wasn't even there.  
“Did you really expect that to work?” Vallory laughed as she raised and eyebrow at Jack, who just scowled at her, before reluctantly holstering the gun.  
“Worth a shot,” Jack growled as he stood up out of bed and stalked over to face her head on.  
“I get it, he’s your husband, you don’t want him to die, but you have to. If it makes it easier for you, that thing over there,” Vallory points a harsh finger at Rhys, “Isn't your husband, it's a shadow of him, it’s how you remember him, and you doing this, it’s hurting him. Think of it like a game of tug-o-war, you're pulling his soul from the afterlife, the afterlife is pulling his soul back, and guess what? Someone yanking your soul all around is pretty painful, and you don’t want to hurt him do you? So here my advice: Let. Him. Go. You aren't going to ‘win’ this, just give up.” Vallory explained as she store daggers into Jack, who store daggers right back. Jack, deep down knew she was probably right, but he wasn't going to just give up on his precious, special, perfect little Rhysie, he needed him, now more than ever.  
“Why don’t you just let go? Let me have him? You’ve got plenty of souls in the afterlife and all I want is this one” Jack said dangerously as he choked his head to the side. Vallory just store at him,  
“Because you can’t just bring people back from the dead Jack, once they’re gone that's it. I couldn’t give him back if I tried, which I’m not going to, because I’m Death and you're just a mortal, I don’t have to do shit you say.” Vallory snarled at Jack getting into his face, “Now, you’re going to go back and let Rhys die, this is your last warning.” Vallory back off once again summoning her black smoke and causing everything around Jack to fade away, until the only thing left was his determination to get Rhys back, until that too was snuffed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is also a bit short, the rest are going to be longer


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack reaches his, and reality's, breaking point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I personally listened to the song "The Death of a Bachelor" while writing this chapter so if you listen to music while reading, I suggest listening to it while reading.

This was wrong.

Jack stood in front of one of the fancier restaurants on Helios, the hall leading to the restaurant was masked in shadows that Jack felt best left undisturbed. This wasn't supposed to happen, this isn't what happened any other time why was now different?

After his conversation with Vallory he woke up with Rhys next to him, they got up and went the work as normal. Jack put in reservations for the restaurant he was currently standing in front of, he was going to save Rhys but if he couldn’t…. He wanted to spend more time with him. But that plan was thrown out the fucking window when an assassin took a shot at Jack in his office, Rhys being his stubborn idiot-self jumped in the way and died. Jack beat the shit out of the fucker that shot Rhys, ignoring how similar he looked to that Florence guy. He laid Rhys down on the couch and walked back up to his penthouse and fell into his bed, ignoring the fact that it was 3:12 pm, the faster he got to sleep the faster he could see Rhys alive again, and god was he tired.

What was supposed to happen was that he was supposed to wake up next to Rhys again and this time get the drop on the on the husband-killing fucker, but here he was, at the restaurant. What made it doubly confusing was the fact that Rhys and he hadn’t even gotten to this point in the day.

Jack stared at the open doors welcoming him into the brightly lit restaurant, before cautiously taking a few steps inside. He looked behind him to find that the shadows had swallowed where he had been standing moments prior, and now stopped just at the entrance. Jack let out a sigh, nowhere to go but forward.

He stepped into the main dining hall to find it completely deserted, except for a figure sitting in a chair at the center of the floor. Rhys sat in his chair, frozen, smiling at nothing, Jack began to quickly approached him, the darkness following him, surrounding him from behind.  
“So, you’ve decided not to heed my warnings then,” Vallory’s voice echoed throughout the restaurant floor. Jack’s eyes shot upward, searching for the source of the voice but finding none.  
“To what? Murder my husband? Yeah, no thanks cupcake, I’d prefer to keep with me,” Jack retorted at nothing, a dark chuckle filled the air, setting Jack on edge.

 _“Fine then,”_ Vallory said, and the was all the warning Jack got before the shadows closed in throwing his clothes and hair about with the force of their winds. Jack shielded his face against the onslaught of darkness and wind before it stopped leaving him somewhere else entirely.

Jack began looking around wildly, trying to piece together where he was, and more importantly where Rhys had been taken to. He looked around trying to piece together his surroundings, finding he was in some sort of lobby. It was completely boring, all grays and whites, and some muted greens. As soon as Jack was able to get him barring the lights shut off, and after a few second of darkness neon lines and black lights filled the room, blasting synthetic music filled the air as. Neon orange and green arrows pointed down the hallway in front of him as tracks of carnival lights began to began to blink on and off creating an illusion of lines traveling further down the hallway.

Jack glared down the hallway before he started to quickly stalk down the hallway, a dark look on his face. Vallory wanted to play? Fine, let's fucking dance. He kept quickening his pace, setting his shoulders until he was practically sprinting down the hallway to whatever lied at the end, the bright lights and blasting music accompanying his sprint. He knew he finally reached the end when he saw a bright green neon painted door glowing in the black light. He didn't bother slowing down, slamming his shoulder into the doors, causing them to fly open.

He stumbled into the center of the circular room, the lights flashing brighter and faster as they made patterns all over the walls, the floor was made of clear sheets of plexiglass, underneath were black nights giving the whole scene a purplish glow. At the front of the room were a set of large painted doors painted in the form of a neon pink heart one-half on each door. Set above the doors were trails of different colored neon lights forming the letters “PCN”

The blasting synthetic music quieted down as a voice bang blasting so loud Jack could barely tell what it was trying to say,  
**“HELLO, WELCOME! TO THE POP CULTURE NEWS! I’M YOUR HOST! AND TODAY WE HAVE A VERY SPECIAL EVENT FOR YOU! HERE WE HAVE HANDSOME JACK HIMSELF! EVERYONE GIVE HIM A ROUND OF APPLAUSE!”** All music suddenly stopped leaving the room in deafening silence for a few short moments, **“TOUGH CROWD AM I RIGHT?”** the voice announced as all noise resumed **“CAN’T REALLY BLAME THEM FOR NOT APPLAUDING THE GUY THAT KILL HIS OWN HUSBAND THOUGH!”** Jack narrowed his eyes at the neon sign,  
“What what did yo-” Jack started but was cut off by the announcer,  
**“ARE WE READY TO BEGIN! OF COURSE, WE ARE GET READY!”** the voice boomed as the music changed into a synthetic fast paced song, and all the lights dying down until the room was only faintly glowing by the lights of the black lit floor.

 _ **“** WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WHAT THE FUCK AM I EVEN SUPPOSED TO DO, AND WHY ARE YOU SAYING I KILLED RHYS I DI-”_  
**“ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNND ACTION!”** the voice cut him off again as the doors flung open towards him, leading to a hall filled with bright neon strobe lights. Jack grabbed his gun, having a feeling that he might need it, besides he was getting kinda pissed off. He began stalking into the hallway and as he the floors slammed shut behind him, the depiction of a broken neon heart on the doors.

Suddenly a target jumped out of the wall in front of him, a depiction of a little doll dressed in a news anchor uniform with bright pink neon Xs for eyes and a wide neon pink smile on a piece of wood. Jack suddenly understood this was a shooting range. He quickly took aim at the target but it disappeared into the wall before he was able to fire. Another, a male in a camera man uniform this time, jumped out of the wall to his left, he swung his gun around to point at the target but it yet again jumped back into the wall before he was able to fire. Suddenly targets began jumping all over and disappearing just as quickly at impossible intervals. Jack began to growl in frustration as he kept trying to aim at the targets only for them to pop back into the wall. Then he spied a target moving slower than the rest and without thinking swung his gun at it and fired. The gun hit the target straight in the center of its head, bright pink neon blood bursting from its, splatter all over the wall behind it and any targets popping out behind it. Slowly bright neon pink liquid gushed down the target’s face. Further examining the target, jack realized it looked different from the rest, instead of two pink Xs for eyes one eye was a bright neon orange, the other a bright neon blue.  
“LOOKS LIKE HIS FIRST SHOT WAS THE RHYS’ TARGET, THAT'S JUST COLD AM I RIGHT FOLKS? KILLING HIM FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE.” the announced cut in, Jack just took a step backward,  
“No… I just wasn't… I didn't realize…” Jack mumbled staring as the neon liquid dripped from the target splattering onto the floor.

_I can believe he killed his husband. He said they were in love…._

The original target spoke as it popped out of the wall in front of Jack, followed by the second target,

_Guess they weren’t after all…._

“No…. Shut up! **YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE FUCKING TALKING ABOUT I FUCKING LOVED HIM! I DIDN'T HURT HIM I WOULD NEVER HURT HIM!”** Jack screamed as he raised his gun to fire at the targets. He fired at both of them only managing to hit the male cameraman, his pink neon liquid splattering everywhere, some even landing on Jack. Suddenly the targets began picking up again, popping in and out. The music blasted but the whispers of the targets invaded Jack’s mind and made their home in his soul.

_Why would he kill him if he loved him?_

_Maybe it was Rhys’ fault!_

_Shouldn't have married such a heartless man._

_I bet Jack killed him because he was whoring around._

_What a gold digging whore!_

_Rhys was such a slut, couldn't keep his hands to himself!_

**“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!!!!!!”** Jack screamed as he clawed at his ears trying to block the whispers out.

_I’m so glad he's gone!_

_But still, Jack did kill him…._

_Jacks a bastard, Rhys is a whore, sounds good to me!_

**“SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HIM YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!!”** Jack roared as he started firing at the targets widely. His bullets finding their homes in each target, the glowing neon liquid flying around glowing sickeningly in the strobe lights and the black lights. It rained from the sky in slow motion as the droplets were caught in the light before bathed yet again in darkness before again bathing the room and Jack in their sickening glow. Jack made the liquid rain in the black lights as a single drop of the liquid rolled down the Rhys’ target’s face from his eye until it free fell to the floor splattering with the rest on the floor.

By the end Jack was drenched in pink neon liquid as he stood in the lights below him, casting his face in shadow as he caught his breath. The doors ahead of him opened slowly, and Jack wordlessly stalked through the door, the music having stopped once the final target was shot. Jack stalked through the proceeding hallway huffing as he left neon footprints in his wake.

Before he was a plain wooden door, neon light arrows pointing at it, it looked out of place in the carnival theme. But at this point, Jack didn't care he just pushed the door open and walked through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's see where this takes us.


	9. Finish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ending

Jack pushed the door open, leaving a neon handprint on the elegant dark wood finding himself in a meeting room. A woman in a white hat sat at the end of the table opposite him.

Jack looked around the meeting room to find that he definitely wasn't in the PCN news network anymore, the room was much too, pristine. The walls were made of carefully wielded metal, long strips of orange lights running along jutted wall holding up the arched ceiling of the room. Above the glass ceiling was Space, but not any constellations Jack had ever seen. It was a nebula painted orange and red with stars shining distantly. Jack frowned he recognized this kind of Architecture. Atlas.

“Have a seat Jack,” The woman, who had not stop staring at him since he had entered the room, called to him, motioning to a yellow chair that looked suspiciously like the one Jack kept in his office. Jack stared at the woman, eyes never leaving her as he walked to his seat and sat down, noticing he was no longer covered in neon paint.

“Where is Rhys,” Jack demanded upholding the woman’s stare. She simply nodded standing up and walking around the table to sit on the table nearer to where Jack was sitting,  
“Rhys?” she questioned raising an eyebrow, “You want to find Rhys?” Jack simply nodded. She gave him a thoughtful hum.  
“And if I were to say I could give him to you… What would you be willing to give for his return?” Jack and the woman just stared at each other for a moment before Jack leaned forward to her and in a deadly serious tone spoke,  
“Anything,”  
The woman hummed looking up staring at the ceiling, letting the words hang in the air for a few moments before looking back at Jack.

“You really would wouldn’t you,” She said staring into his eyes, she tutted and shook her head.  
“It’s a shame really, but nobody has what you want. You could do exactly that, you could give anything and everything to get him back but…. Who would you give it to? Nobody has what you seek. He’s gone Jack, forever.” Jack looked down and shook his head,  
“No he isn't, that Vallory woman-”  
“Also does not have him, and neither did you. That thing you had wasn't Rhys, it was a collection memories, your memories. Memories of him, how he walked, talked, smiled, laughed, what he looked like asleep, what he looked like when he was excited, but it wasn't him. He’s gone forever, there is no magic redo button. What happens, happens, you can’t change it no matter who you are.” She cut him off walked forward toward him until she was leaning over him. They locked eyes once again.  
_“Please.”_ He blinked, The woman stood upright,  
“I’m sorry Jack, but I can't do anything for you. Neither can anyone else.” The woman shook her head as she returned to her seat at the other end of the long meeting room table. She pressed a button on her chair and two metal shackles appeared from the armrests of Jack’s chair, locking him into the seat. Jack began wildly tugging at the restraints and yelling,  
“HEY! LET ME GO! I CAN- I CAN DO SOMETHING- I CAN SAVE HIM! JUST LET ME GO!!” The woman simply shook her head,  
“Goodbye Jack,” She said as she pressed another button and the floor panel below the chair split into four pieces each retracting into the surrounding floor panels leaving Jack and the chair to fall into the inky abyss below.

Jack yelled as he fell strapped to the chair, surrounded by a pitch black, he could even see his own hands. Eventually, after falling for a few moments the restraints on the chair were released and it too disappeared into the darkness. Now he was just free falling, and Jack didn't know if he preferred it to being strapped to the chair, at least then he had something to hold onto. As he continued to fall the air around him to get lighter, to the point where he could she a dark gray outline of his body after a minute or so. He wasn't able to admire himself for very long though as he suddenly slammed into cold concrete.

Jack groaned but quickly realized besides the jarring reaction of hitting the ground he wasn't hurt. Jack slowly made his way to his feet, preparing himself for whatever new thing this was. He was in a small concrete room, with a tiny window at the very top that he couldn't see through, and a heavy cast iron door. The tiny window cast a pale blue light through the room, casting the concrete the colors of the early evening.

Jack rushed for the cast iron door trying to open it but finding it locked. He then began pounding on the door and calling out,  
“HELLO!? IS ANYONE THERE?!? LET ME THE FUCK OUT!!” After a solid five minutes of screaming and pounding on the door, Jack gave up. He walked the three steps to the other side of the room and slumped down, sitting on the floor. “How the fuck am I supposed to get out of here? Rhys needs me but…”

_Rhys is gone._

Jack started to look around wildly, trying to find the source of the voice.

_Why won’t he just accept he’s gone? He can just go home if he gives up._

_It’s because he’s stubborn, won't accept he can't but the hero this time._

Jack bangs the back of his head against the wall, the whispers of the targets having returned to haunt him. Maybe if he ignored them they would just shut the fuck up and let him figure out how to save Rhys.

_He still thinks he can save him?_

_Yeah, he refuses to accept it._

_At first, it was kinda funny, now it's just sad. He's putting himself through so much pain for no reason._

_Look, Jack, we get it you want to save him, but you can’t you need to accept that, please?_

Jack covered his ears with his hands, it was easier to dismiss them when they were calling Rhys a whore, but now they seemed so genuine it made his heart hurt.

_It's ok to be sad Jack, losing a loved one is a sad thing, nobody's going to make fun of you if you feel sad!_

_Yeah! We’re all here for you! And all of your friends too! Like: Angel, Tim, Nisha, Wilhelm, even Vaughn, and Yvette!_

_Let us in!_

_Please, Jack!_

_But Jack you have to accept the truth, Rhys is-_

“GONE! I KNOW HE'S GONE! DO YOU THINK I DON’T FUCKING KNOW HE'S GONE!?!” Jack cried at the whispers he had had enough. Jack’s frame started to shake as he began to began to sob, “I know he’s gone! I just want him to be here! I fucking love him, and he’s gone and I just wanted him to be here, but he's not.” Jack cried as he continued to sob. He covered his face with his hands as the voices piped down. “Why him?” Jack sobbed into his hands.

Jack sat in the cell and cried as the lights began to shift around him, the pale blue turning to an orange, and light began to filter under the door. Jack stopped crying and looked up at the door wiping some tears from his eyes.

He slowly began to rise to his feet supporting himself against the wall and she stared at the door.

_It’s time Jack._

Jack nodded and reached out toward the door. Jack slid the door open, stumbling out into the harsh light. Once his eyes finally adjusted he found himself at the place he never wanted to return to but knew he had to. He was standing in the doorway of the sliding glass door that lead to the boardwalk. The same door Rhys had passed through just before he died.

Jack looked out over the lake and sky, it looked just as it had when he had taken Rhys here, everything was the same. His eyes were drawn to a figure sitting on a long beach chair at the end of the boardwalk, looking at the sunset. Jack slowly walked across the lawn and down the boardwalk, eyes never leaving Rhys.

Rhys either didn't notice his approach or didn't bother to look, as he continued to stare at the mountains, the sun slowly starting to disappear behind them.  
“You made it,” Rhys finally spoke cheerfully, turning to look at him. He looked the same but also so different. Everything about him was the same except for the fact that he seemed to be made of out pure sunlight, his form incandescent and slightly see-through.

Jack simply nodded, staring at Rhys sadly as he got up and turned to face him completely. Jack just slowly lifted his hand and brought it in a slow lazy arc down onto Rhys’ shoulder, his hand simply passing straight through him. Rhys looked at his shoulder sadly, then returned his gaze to Jack.

“Will I ever see you again?” Jack asked Rhys nodded before pointing to his chest,  
“Memory is the key, with it, I’ll always be with you,” Rhys said to Jack, he nodded and sat down on the chair, the sun was halfway behind the mountains and the mountain's shadow was racing over the lake towards them. Rhys looked behind him at the shadows then turned back to Jack smiling softly at him.

Rhys leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on Jack’s forehead, feeling as though a ray of sunlight had touched his face.  
“I’ll be right back Handsome,” Rhys said as he turned away from Jack and walked down the boardwalk, up the lawn and to the ajar back door of the beach house, the shadows hot on his trail, before he disappeared inside.

Jack sat and watched the rolling waves of the lake longer after sunset

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the ending is shit, I'm just a shitty writer trying to make u sad!  
> Also to the people who caught the Red vs Blue reference, I am sorry, I couldn't resist I have terrible impulse control.
> 
> Anyway that's the end of Beach walk check out This Tumblr:  
> https://esperosisisaloser.tumblr.com/  
> To get sneak peaks on some the new stuff I am planning!  
> 

**Author's Note:**

> I have a Tumblr surprisingly:  
> https://savemefrommyship.tumblr.com/  
> Please do holler at me for my unoriginality on it ;U;


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